


this is my day and I, for this I will not pay

by tigriswolf



Series: comment_fic drabbles [145]
Category: White Collar
Genre: Alternate Universe, Backstory, Gen, Non-Graphic Violence, Secret Identity, Serial Killers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-23
Updated: 2013-05-23
Packaged: 2017-12-12 19:06:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/814968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter thinks Neal is a gentleman thief.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this is my day and I, for this I will not pay

**Author's Note:**

> Title: this is my day and I, for this I will not pay  
> Fandom: White Collar  
> Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Adrienne Rich  
> Warnings: AU for Neal's backstory; violence  
> Pairings: none  
> Rating: PG  
> Wordcount: 400  
> Point of view: third  
> Prompt: White Collar, Neal + Peter, Neal may trust him, but he hardly ever lets him see behind the mask.

Neal is angry all the time. He has been for years, and sometimes, all he wants to do is grab the nearest knife and gut someone. He's refrained, though. Otherwise, he'd either be dead or on the run, looking over his shoulder all the time.

Peter thinks Neal is a gentleman thief. El, June, Diana, Jones - they all think he's charming, and a better than decent guy. The FBI thinks Neal's useful, except for those who think once a thief, always a thief, and the only place for thieves is prison.

Neal's been angry since he was a child. It's not that he was beaten. It's not that he was neglected. His father was a smalltime crook, and his mother a bankteller (and, yes, there's irony there somewhere, but Neal doesn't care anymore), and Neal coasted through school, well-liked and firmly entrenched in the middle of his class. Neal made sure no one ever saw his true self, carefully giving everyone the same mask: all-American nice boy. Athletic, popular – charming. So very charming.

Neal's been charming just as long as he's been angry.

Painting is not his passion. He's good at it, of course. He's good at everything. When his mother told him he could do anything he wanted, it was the truth. If he hadn't held back, school wouldn't have taken long at all.

Conning is not his passion, either.

(When Neal was fourteen, a senior at his school went missing, written off as a runaway.)

Stealing things is fun, but it's all so easy, there's hardly any reason to anymore.

(When Neal was eighteen, a young couple from his class went missing. It was decided they ran off together.)

Forging was diverting at first, but after a year, it was no longer a challenge.

(When Neal was in prison, the biggest, meanest topdog died. Consensus: accidental food poisoning.)

Peter doesn't think Neal is harmless; Neal's a convicted felon, after all.

But Peter does think Neal is a gentleman.

Peter doesn't know what Neal does when the rage gets to be too much, how he learned to trick the anklet within the first week, or just how many people go missing in New York a day.

Neal doesn't let the anger control him. He uses it. The anger hones him into something sharp, something dangerous, and maybe one day, Peter will learn what Neal's _true_ passion is.


End file.
